10:30am

When the Minnesota Historical Society started using LibGuides, we looked around for examples of other special collections or archives that were using this tool. We did not find many and, in general, this has not changed. In our presentation we will discuss how we have customized LibGuides for use in a special library, adapting the system so we can introduce researchers to our unique collections, and allowing us to highlight specific topics and collections, integrate other internally created discovery and learning tools, and increase our Library’s visibility within our institution. Because our guides are designed to be used both by our patrons and staff, they are an invaluable tool on the reference desk and for helping our distance researchers. We will discuss how different styles of guides can quickly and easily point researchers to the resources we have, or take them through a complex research process from start to finish. We will also detail our Progress-to-Publication workflow, a system that can be easily adapted by any library to ensure excellent content; present a unified look, feel, and tone; and delegate responsibilities to make the most of staff members’ time and abilities. Lastly, we will discuss technical aspects of working with LibGuides and LibGuides 2 without dedicated IT support: integrating guides into a larger web-presence, customizing look and feel, and using the wider LibGuides community for assistance. Through our unique uses of LibGuides, we market and create interest in our special collections to a wider audience, highlight our research services, help our internal departments and staff, tie into wider institutional goals, and assist distance users, including students. Other libraries can, too!

10:30am

As more and more institutions hire Instructional Technology Librarians, there are different descriptions, roles, and duties that these librarians fill. For a long time, instructional technology resided within an Information Technology Services department, or even through a Faculty Development program. But how does the role of instructional technologist and librarian overlap? How have librarians adopted the role of instructional technologist (making them instructional technology librarians), and how will this evolve as more and more librarians, faculty, students, and staff incorporate technology into their teaching and learning? As an Instructional Technology and Information Literacy Librarian, the lines between what is solely instructional technology and information literacy no longer exists, and are two critical components of job descriptions-but how do librarians define where their roles end and campus or library IT takes over? This session will explore these questions and look to discuss some of the challenges associated with walking the line between technologist and librarian.

10:30am

For Faculty, the Course Hub is a quick way to link your disparate course materials (blogs, electronic reserves, articles, wikis, and sites) in one location so that they are easily found by your class. Spend a few minutes adding Resources for your online course materials and these will be available to your students throughout the semester. At the very least add your syllabus and make any course site a Resource.

For Students, the Semester Dashboard shows you the latest updates from all of your courses -- at a glance you can see if there have been new updates on the course blog, electronic reserves, or any other connected resources. Clicking through to the Course Hub site for any class allows you to browse through all updates as well as find links to all of the course resources.

Part 2: More than a Search Box: Deep Embedding of Library Materials in Learning Management Systems

Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Blackboard, Canvas, Sakai, and Moodle have become central to the teaching and learning experience for both instructors and student. Libraries have attempted to be a part of this space, which has led to many interesting projects: search boxes in the LMS, links to library resources enabled by default for all courses, embedded librarians in online courses, etc.

In this session, we will cover a new type of library integration: the EBSCO Curriculum Builder. This tool makes it easy for faculty to make use of library materials in their courses. With one click, faculty members can search the library’s collections and add items to a reading list, all from within the LMS. This eliminates the need for faculty members to understand and use permalinks for licensed library resources - a key step many instructors miss when adding content to their courses. It also encourages proper linking to library materials, a step many instructors bypass when they download a PDF copy of an article and upload it into their LMS. As a result, the library collects better usage statistics (each student use of a library resource is recorded in EBSCO’s reporting features) and faculty avoid inadvertently violating copyright.

The tool is able to accomplish this deep integration thanks to the Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) protocol, which will be discussed in this session. LTI tools are very easy for LMS administrators to configure and clearly add value and functionality to the online classroom environment. As a result, implementation of this tool is simple and easy, requiring as little as 5 minutes to get up and running.

This session will show how this tool works from start-to-finish in Moodle and Canvas, including what steps the library and LMS administrator would need to take to get it up and running.

Director of Field Engineering, North America, EBSCO Information Services

Hey! I'm the team lead for discovery service engineering and integration for EBSCO. This means I can answer any question you might have about integrating EDS or the EDS API into your library and campus. I'm also a developer, building applications that use our API in outside-of-the-box ways, and love to hear new ideas for how library resources can be used.

10:30am

Imagine that all your vendor contacts, product descriptions, and licensing information are all connected and in one place. You do not have to wrestle crazy spreadsheets anymore. Coral offers four intuitive modules that allow for greater functionality, flexibility, and collaboration. Multiple users with different permissions can all work together to complete built-in workflows. Coral even reminds you when renewals are coming up. It is so easy that every level of the library staff can now feel comfortable using it! Participants can play around in a Coral test site for themselves.

I am an extroverted librarian with a background in electronic resource management, focusing on data driven collection development and project management. Right now, I am exploring how to integrate open access resources into our library discovery systems.

10:30am

The future is a visual place. The media is dominated by image-based sharing. Carefully designed ads and brands are constantly bombarding us. Such a visually stimulated world raises important questions about visual literacy but it also asks questions about how libraries are communicating without words. What do our materials and use of images say about us? How are we engaging our communities with intentional graphic design?

This session will begin with basic graphic design principles and apply them to various print and electronic materials with the purpose of effectively communicating messages and engaging with communities. Emphasis will be placed on the practical considerations of the design process, software choices, where to find useful materials for including in designs, and places to be inspired. Attendees will leave with many free resource suggestions and an understanding of how to use design principles to create all kinds of materials from handouts and event posters to infographics and syllabi.

I like to say that I'm a librarian moonlighting as a musician. I live and work in the Adirondack Park of upstate New York. I connect people with ideas through music, information, and good design. I’m passionate about opening doors for my community by encouraging curiosity, exploration, and reflection. You should talk to me about rural living, working in a tiny library, and instruction from an experiential point of view.

10:30am

A growing role for all types of libraries is to enable content creation by members of their community. One type of role is by “publishing” or distributing that work so that it is available for others. Whether publishing an electronic journal or book or supporting authors for traditional publishing, what is the role libraries could or should be taking? While many academic libraries now host student and faculty journals, what about monographs? Some academic libraries are now exploring how to support faculty interested in producing OA textbooks. A recent article in American Libraries (“Wanna write a good one? Library as Publisher” ) talked about how public libraries could support children’s authors. So, what do you need to know in order to determine if you are ready to support a new service for your community? Presenters will share the story of our experience in the creation and publication of a multimedia monograph length e-book completed in April 2014 and openly accessible on our institutional repository. Topics to be covered will include lessons learned, or what we didn’t know when we started; what you need to know about copyright; what services need to be in place related to editing and layout and design; staffing needs; and long term preservation. And perhaps most importantly, how to distinguish yourself from being a vanity press while also not being a full-fledged publisher. The presentation will be limited to 40 minutes to allow attendees to ask questions.

10:30am

As library systems move to the cloud and electronic resources outpace print resources, tracking reported issues can be daunting for any sized library. The University of Minnesota Libraries has creatively and strategically re-conceptualized how to use Service Now (an incident management tool (IMT)) to provide patrons AND staff with a single point of entry for reporting problems. While IMTs are common in the IT sector, their level of adoption in libraries is undocumented. The presenters will discuss incident management, tools and triage, as well as the outcome and impact of making the tool successfully work for the Libraries.

10:30am

Connecting with authors and classrooms will allow your students to make connections and learn beyond walls of your classroom and school. Learn about how a media specialist uses Skype to connect with authors and classrooms. Skype is an example of one tool that allows teachers to connect with others outside of school. You will learn the logistics of doing a virtual session, activity ideas/resources, and tips.

10:30am

Winona State University, Krueger Library, Summer 2013. Time for a library website reboot. We wanted our online presence to be user-focused, simple, and elegant. Our dilemma? No developers on staff at our library. Our vision was galaxies ahead of our tools and knowledge.

We turned to our university Web Communications and Web Development teams to boldly go where the library website had not gone before. At first, we educated each other. Librarians learned about the university’s web systems, and developers learned about library systems. Then we met weekly to share our ideas as a team, identifying and overcoming obstacles together along the way. And we made it so, as Krueger Library’s new library website rolled out in July 2014.

In this discussion session, attendees will hear from all sides of the table as the project managers, developers, and librarians explain how we collaborated to produce a forward-thinking, sleek, responsive site. Join us as the panelists discuss the greatest stumbling blocks and biggest wins. The discussion will include use cases for local and common tools, such as MnPALS Discover and LibGuides. We will share timelines, site architecture, code snippets, and, perhaps most importantly, plans for future projects together.

11:30am

12:00pm

Get a 3D scan from the University of Minnesota Libraries! We will use an Xbox Kinect, the motion sensing device that allows for gesture control, and Skanect software to create 3D scans of participants. This activity allows participants to explore gaming technology in interactive and new ways.

Justin Schell is a filmmaker, writer, photographer, and Learning Design Specialist for the University of Michigan Library. His first documentary, Travel in Spirals, tells the story of Hmong hip-hop artist Tou SaiKo Lee's journey back to Thailand, 30 years after he was born in a refugee camp there. He recently completed his full-length documentary film We Rock Long Distance. His video work has been shown in the Walker Art Center, Twin Cities... Read More →

1:15pm

Following an unprecedented level of staff turnover, the Metropolitan State University Library had an opportunity to effect deep changes in its Technical Services department. Demonstrating a commitment to a patron-driven acquisition model, the Library refashioned its acquisitions workflow and the process for acquiring e-books along the way. This presentation will outline our decision to provide patrons full access to the EBL catalog and allow their usage to guide our acquisitions, catalog maintenance, and collection development processes. We will discuss the steps that led to these decisions, the pros and cons of opening up access, and how we envision the future of our relationship with digital resources.

1:15pm

Building our public library's social media presence online is a team approach. Learn some best practices and strategies for using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and other social media channels. Discover how a team approach works for building content for social channels. Explore ways to provide library service with social media, using Hennepin County Library's #ReadThisNext on Facebook as an example.

1:15pm

Transitioning from physical format to digital delivery of educational media collections creates a set of complex challenges that few libraries have mastered. This presentation will provide an introductory overview of streaming video, some of the common models utilized at various academic and public libraries, with discussion on recent initiatives in the University of Minnesota Libraries to expand this capacity through licensing content and promotion of exemplar open digital video collections. This presentation will also provide examples of some of the pedagogical benefits of integrating digital video into the classroom, such as the flipped classroom model.

I serve as Media Outreach and Learning Spaces Librarian for the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Libraries. In this role, I am head of Media Services, a program dedicated to supporting the development of student media literacy skill sets, and promotion of deeper subject knowledge and meaningful, authentic learning experiences through the integration of media resources and student-produced media into curriculum. I hold an M.L.I.S and M.A... Read More →

1:15pm

Publishing undergraduate research is an idea that has a lot of momentum behind it right now. Colleges and universities are publishing their students award-winning research, conferences, posters and presentations, fieldwork and class projects, honors theses and capstone projects, creative works, and research papers. Publishing undergraduate work enhances student learning outcomes (http://jlsc-pub.org/jlsc/vol2/iss2/4/) and can build confidence, even encouraging student authors to pursue a career in research in their field of study. Of course, getting published also helps students in their job searches and when they apply to graduate schools. The library benefits from publishing undergraduate research, too. Scholarly communications librarians are teaching information literacy and publishing skills to undergraduate students and in many cases to their faculty advisory as well. It’s an important role for the library to play.

1:15pm

Processing, providing access, and preserving digital objects is an expensive and complicated task, especially when limited budgets and staff time is being pulled in varying directions. The Northern State University Beulah Williams Library has developed and maintained a digital collection of archival objects with the goal of providing electronic access to a wealth of institutional, and local histories that may not otherwise be accessible to the general public. Through grants, online training, open source, or free software; the library has acquired the necessary software, hardware, technical expertise, and workflows to ensure these collections will be accessible for current and future patrons.

1:15pm

It is an ongoing challenge to find an effective method of library instruction that also engages college freshman. At Concordia College – Moorhead we are fortunate enough to conduct a basic information literacy session with every first-year student, we call it the Library Launch. This fall we made the Library Launch paperless for the purposes of sustainability and student participation. In this presentation we will share our experiences developing content, implementing the selected survey tool, and, finally, assessing whether or not the new format met our learning outcomes.

1:15pm

How hard can it be to design three Web pages? A lot harder than anyone could have anticipated. Is a “start over” button necessary? If everyone wants a “Google-like” search, why do people keep asking for more options? And how do you meet the needs of so many different search methods? Get some lessons learned about catalog design from the Hennepin County Library, who recently created a catalog from nothing. Find out how they handled some of these questions, found the right words and placement for features, and got a catalog design up and running (including an “All” search with features from dropping in an ISBN or other identifier, to calculating title popularity with its “best match” default sort). Specific topics will include new search workflow, making a very useful single search box, the never-quite-right add to list tool, what data is really useful on search results, what limiting options are most important, and more.

1:15pm

In the summer of 2014, Northwestern University Library began the process to migrate their library guides to LibGuides 2.0. With over 500 published guides and 88 active guide authors, upgrading to the new system required careful planning and collaboration with partners from across the library. In this presentation, we will discuss the steps we took to manage the migration process and the methods we used (and are still using) to learn about best practices working with LibGuides 2.0. Our process includes usability testing, system analytics, guide management, asset maintenance, and staff training and support throughout the migration. We will share lessons we’ve learned and our plans for future user testing and guide management.

1:15pm

Learn why 25 iPad apps have been designated as the Best for Teaching and Learning by a group of AASL practitioners. In addition to the 25, additional outstanding apps in these categories will be identified: Books, STEM, Organization and Management, Social Sciences, and Content Creation. How do you find the appropriate apps for your classroom now that Apple has over a million iPad apps in their App store? Connie will share her favorite app review sites.

2:30pm

From prosthetic limbs to giant concrete play castles, 3D printers have opened the doors to a new means of design and production. In 2013, Hennepin County Library began to explore different ways of using this technology as a learning tool for patrons. We will discuss the basics of 3D printing, the programs and collaborations we have explored, and the successes and road bumps we have encountered along the way. We will also demo the 3D printer and the 3D design and build software so you can see the process from start to finish.

2:30pm

Library consortia exist for a number of reasons and have the main benefit of increasing access to a greater number of resources for its members. As with any muscle-bound entity, it is strong but not always flexible. The politics of decision-making within consortia vary as intra-consortial power is often dependent on the working dynamics of the different institutions within the larger system. The presenters for this session represent two different consortia and different institutional roles within their consortia. One is from a public flagship university within a system and the other is in a library that is geographically and programmatically removed from the flagship. Even with these differences, they both confronted similar difficulties when trying to establish institutional access for their library resources. Topics that will be addressed include a single sign-on system, configuring RSS feeds from the library catalog, customizing databases and other resources within the consortium, and negotiating licenses. The presenters will compare stories of how they were able to effect institutional change within their respective consortia and share the challenges of each.

2:30pm

How is teaching informational literacy different with digital natives? This session moves beyond "How to teach an information literacy class 101", and focuses on issues specifically related to teaching information literacy to students who do not remember a time without Google. Utilizing a mixture of research and experience, practical ideas that can be used in a variety of ways will be presented. Attendees with learn how to enhance their own strengths in order to keep their own digital natives engaged and learning during information literacy sessions. With the right skills, you can turn a student's question from "can't I just Google it?" into "can you help me find a scholarly article for my paper?". This session is targeted for academic librarians, but all are welcome!

2:30pm

Publishers, libraries, and content providers are navigating an e-book market that is trying to find it’s footing. Issues like sales, ownership, access, preservation, sharing, acquiring, and weeding are not universally defined. Questions around fair use and copyright are unsettled. All parties need to negotiate ways to sustain themselves economically and provide for their customers without sacrificing core values. This session will have publishers, librarians, and an e-book content provider conversing about e-books. We will also share thoughts on how to move this conversation forward. Publishers have developed a variety of models for providing access to e-books. Some offer DRM free e-books while others have many restrictions on their products. Some e-books can only be used a limited number of times, while other publishers fully transfer ownership to the library with the sale. Each of these models have advantages and drawbacks. Many libraries have promoted various ideas on what they want from e-books. Some libraries are looking into publishing. Others are joining together to advocate for standards. While all of these efforts have merits, there is not a clear single path forward. E-book content providers provide a platform for e-books from multiple publishers to be utilized by people through a wide variety of libraries. This service requires them to have a good understanding of the interests of both publishers and libraries. Publishers, libraries, and content providers need to engage each other in more conversations about e-books. While there are times when our interests compete there is also common ground. Clear expressions of priorities should be made in order to reduce misunderstandings and fears.

2:30pm

Makerspaces are a growing trend in all types of libraries. During this session, learn how Makerspaces are being used in the school library. Attendees will walk away with resource lists, curriculum connections and hands-on ideas to start their own Makerspace. This session will demonstrate a variety of Makerspace tools currently being used by K-12 students.

Jen Legatt is a media specialist and tech integrationist who is energized by engaging learners in meaningful, authentic ways. Envisioning how to expand learning experiences out of the walls and bells of traditional classrooms. Mom of two readers.

2:30pm

So, whether on your own or through a service provider you've decided to use an open source package to meet an automation need in your organization. You paid nothing for the right to run the software (although you may be paying a service provider for their support of the software), so you have no obligation to the software itself, right? Arguably not. Healthy open source software is supported by a community of users, and the other participants in the open source project are counting on your support -- financial and talent -- to keep the project growing. In 2014, experienced leaders from libraries, archives, and museums met to learn from each other what it takes for open source to be successful -- both for the adopting organization and the open source project. This session summarizes those discussion and provides a forum for LibTech attendees to share their own experiences and ask their own questions.

Peter Murray is the Open Source Community Advocate at Index Data, a software development and consulting enterprise with expertise in networked information retrieval and management based on open standards. He received an MLIS from Simmons College and a Bachelor of Science degree in Systems Analysis from Miami University. Peter’s current activities include building relationships among libraries, organizations, and service providers... Read More →

2:30pm

CONTENTdm is an established system for digital asset management. Beyond searching and discovering objects with the system, users often need to find a way to re-use or remix the objects and metadata in a creative way. Our session will explore how to move beyond the built-in Powerpoint export option to use CONTENTdm objects in tools like ArcGIS story maps, and TimelineJS or Omeka exhibit tools for class projects.

2:30pm

Our university recently purchased a subscription to BlueJeans, a cloud-based videoconferencing service that is compatible with all major computing platforms, including mobile devices. This new technology will allow a team of two librarians and a nursing faculty member to deliver a Nursing Journal Club as a continuing education course, thereby addressing the informatics competencies incorporated into nursing education. The course will consist of an information literacy session followed by four sessions with authors of the various articles teleconferencing in for part of the scholarly article discussion. Existing research on journal clubs has shown that they are effective in influencing individual nurses and healthcare providers’ perceptions of the value of medical research, as measured by informal questionnaires. This research project seeks to measure any increase in practicing nurses’ beliefs in the value of evidence-based practice (EBP) as measured by the EBP Beliefs Scale. This presentation will enumerate the challenges and benefits of using this software platform, as well as the initial findings of this ongoing research project.

2:30pm

It has been well documented that web users do not read the majority of text on a page, preferring to scan the contents. Visuals can aid users substantially--or they can be confusing or ignored outright. And yet, working with the visual presentation of guide content often requires a knowledge of CSS and some ability with design principles. Beyond this, with guide contents often contributed by an assortment of people, libraries can feel forced to choose between an ad hoc approach or an enforced boilerplate design. In this presentation, we will discuss an approach to LibGuides 2 guide content that is guided by usability thinking and testing; built on recognizable branding; uses built-in, ready-made CSS classes that all guide creators with basic HTML knowledge can use; and provides uniformity that can be applied creatively by each individual guide creator. This session seeks to blend discussion of usable design with practical, easy-to-implement suggestions. Participants in the session will have opportunity to discuss their own problems and solutions working with content in LibGuides 2.

3:45pm

Renee Ponzio, from L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin will discuss how to get started on the digitization process. Guidance will be given on finding community partners, selecting items to digitize, adding metadata, and choosing a vendor for access and hosting. Renee will highlight problems encountered along the way in their digitization process, and what the library has planned for putting their digitized collections to use. Examples of what has been digitized will be shared.

3:45pm

On June 17, 2014, Library Services at Minnesota State University, Mankato launched Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works, the new institutional repository for the University. Cornerstone showcases the intellectual output of Minnesota State University, Mankato's faculty, staff, and students by preserving their works digitally and presenting them to the world in an easy-to-find format. Launching Cornerstone did not just happen overnight. This session will talk about our process, preparations, strategies and marketing campaign and how our first year’s progress well exceeded our goals and expectations.

I am the Digital Initiatives Librarian at Minnesota State University, Mankato. I am the manager of Cornerstone, our institutional repository (bepress Digital Commons) and I assist in the development of ARCH, our University Archives digital collections platform (Islandora).

3:45pm

Libraries have collected data across multiple platforms and areas and developed reports to inform their stakeholders to show the value of the library. As data collection methods have evolved, more assessment platforms have become available in the market. LibAnalytics can help you pull together an all-inclusive, real-time assessment of your library’s services. At the University of Maryland, Priddy Library, we implemented LibAnalytics in 2011 to centralize our data collection points on numerous library services. Learn how this personalized tool has helped the Priddy Library aggregate statistics on library services such as gate counts, circulation and acquisition statistics, interlibrary loan activity, reference statistics and library instruction sessions. The presentation will focus on how we developed a customized instance based on library services and the assessment needs specific to our library. Participants will brainstorm data collection points based on their library services and how to group data points logically. The presentation will discuss how to create a dataset, categorize data entry fields, develop questions, select data field types (i.e. numeric, single or multi option dropdown menus, or text fields), and edit existing datasets. In a few simple steps, learn how to filter your data, generate custom reports, create visualizations, analyze library usage instantly, and produce shareable dashboards to provide a comprehensive overview of your library’s metrics. Through these features, learn how your library can assess trends across multiple years, make data driven decisions to improve services and demonstrate the library’s value.

3:45pm

Focusing on the Riga Ghetto interactive 'Walk Among Memories' website telling geolocated Holocaust stories from Latvia as the user walks around their own neighborhood, as well as the Healy Project's map of 19th-century houses and trolley lines superimposed over historical maps that show patterns of urban development through time. Both examples rely exclusively on Google Maps, Google Docs, and Google Street View Open APIs for a simple yet rich interactive experience of deep data.

I am a web programmer and artist, interested in exploring the conjunction between physical and virtual spaces. I'm currently working on an audio/visual location-aware shared virtual interactive art installation for Northern Spark in June.

3:45pm

Make Summon 2.0 more usable by hacking the banner! The current interface for Summon 2.0 allows users to upload a small image as an identifiable logo for their institution in the banner. However the image size allowed is small, and other than the logo, there is little ability for customizing the look of the Summon 2.0 interface beyond changing link colors. However, using jQuery and CSS, you can add images and text that allow for a more usable and accessible experience. You can also create a look that makes Summon more recognizable to your patrons as a service provided by your library!

3:45pm

In 2014 the MLIS Program at St. Catherine University offered a new course called “Content Creation” to introduce MLIS students to the maker movement and DIY culture. In addition to discussing the broader implications of the maker movement in libraries, students explored different technologies/tools and embarked on their own creative projects. Join us for an informal show-and-tell of some of the maker technology used by students in the course. Items available will include a UP Mini 3D Printer, a Silhouette Cameo vinyl cutter, an Arduino microcontroller and a Raspberry Pi microcomputer. Faculty and staff involved in the course will be available to demonstrate and answer questions about the different devices, discuss the work of the course’s students and talk more broadly about the maker movement in relation to the LIS profession.

3:45pm

Are you tired of your students sitting like lumps? Do your students hide behind their computer monitors? Or do you teach in classrooms without computers for the students to use? In our profession we sometimes get so focused on the latest technologies that we forget that shiny new gadgets do not make analog technologies obsolete. In this interactive presentation, the presenter will demonstrate why whiteboards and colored markers rank highly among her favorite instructional technologies. She will show how she has uses these technologies as tools to support her pedagogical goals (instead of letting technology determine pedagogy) to get students engaged in learning activities that span different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy including listing keywords, writing citations, comparing authoritative and non-authoritative sources, and designing research plans for larger projects. The presenter will show how she combines whiteboards with other low- and no-technological tools to have students, the instructor, and the librarian herself comment in meaningful ways on the students’ work. She will also demonstrate options for teaching in classrooms that do not have sufficient whiteboards or when students are unable (due to accessibility issues or classroom design) to write on the walls. These methods allow for quick formative assessments that enable the librarian to make adjustments in the moment and incorporate a more nimble and flexible pedagogy that can lead to greater student learning. In this interactive workshop participants will engage in some of the exercises the presenter does with students and then have a discussion about how to modify these ideas to fit their individual circumstances and environments.

3:45pm

Please join us for a lively discussion of a library and history course digital humanities (DH) partnership. Panelists include the professor of the course, a student from the course, two librarians, an IT specialist, and a DH partner in the English department. As part of the class, upper-division and graduate students conducted primary and secondary research on Minnesotans in the U.S. Civil War of the 1860s. Instead of writing a research paper, students worked collaboratively to create a digital exhibit using the Omeka content management software. Beyond learning the history of the period, students learned the craft of the historian, developed a more sophisticated thinking about available digital resources, created a structure for the exhibit that can accommodate the work of future classes, applied metadata to their artifacts, began understanding the importance of narrative in exhibits, and other skills that will help with their future job prospects. In addition to learning about this project, we invite you to consider the role libraries have in anticipating and supporting digital humanities projects and to think about ways to collaborate effectively across disparate academic units.

10:30am

At MSU, Mankato, I have converted a paper acquisitions workflow management tool to an electronic acquisitions & licensing workflow management tool using Microsoft Access, which I share with two Serials Technicians. We can now track any acquisitions item and identify where it currently stands in the acquisitions process. We can run reports to produce lists of items which continue to require work in our acquisitions process. For example, we can run a report at the beginning of the year to follow up on unfinished cataloging work for cancelled serials. The Workflow DB is not unique among libraries, but does not seem to be trivial, when compared to other examples of workflow management tools. I have continued to develop the Workflow DB, adding functionality as I have had time, in consultation with the Serials Technicians using the system. The most recently added functionality might be unique among library systems. In brief, I have added functionality specifically to track changes in license clauses which we pursue during negotiations. While ERMSs typically include license term management functionality, I am not aware of any similar functionality specifically to track changes, which I can use in order to pursue research.

10:30am

This session is for beginners who are interested in learning APIs or want to know what an API is. It will answer questions such as what is an API? How do APIs work? What are the advantages of APIs? The session will also show basic codes to get information (book cover, summary, review etc.) from Syndetics, basic codes to retrieve item information using Sirsi web services, basic codes to search Amazon's database and what we are doing with the returned result. If time permits, I will show how we are using the API to integrate novelist features into our catalog.

10:30am

With the advent of Google-like searching, academic libraries across the country have been compelled to create one-search options that return locally owned physical items, full-text materials, and Open Access scholarly content. Whether your library has already implemented one-search software or is just beginning the conversation, this session will give you tools and knowledge to assess the functionality and usefulness of your systems. You will begin to answer questions such as: What is your discovery tool really finding? How can you be sure? Presenters for this session will base examples on their experiences with ProQuest’s Summon (with the MnPALS API) and WorldCat Discovery. Their experiences also include configuring and using behind-the-scenes tools such as SFX, ProQuest 360 Linker, and the WorldCat Knowledgebase.

10:30am

Many challenges arise when managing a library's social media presence, though the biggest is often generating engaging and interesting content. At Lawrence University's Mudd Library, we've begun the shift from trying to create content our target audience wants, to asking them to generate it for us. I’ll share how we have been able to work with other campus departments, students, alumni, and faculty to provide concrete examples of what the library can do for our patrons- and how we have been using social media to share these stories. Of course, we don’t ask others to do all of our work, so there will also be discussion of other campaigns, displays, and ideas that we have tried. Attendees will be highly encouraged to share their own social media stories.

Angela Vanden Elzen is the Reference & Web Services Librarian at Lawrence University’s Seeley G. Mudd Library. In this role, she manages the library website, co-leads social media initiatives, assists at the reference desk, and does a bunch of other cool stuff such as building an academic makerspace in the library.

10:30am

Do you find it difficult to spend sufficient time with patrons and their technology questions? L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, has adopted a program called “Tech Tuesdays” that allows staff to spend more time with patron’s technology questions. We offer informal walk-in hours to answer patron’s questions about their personal devices, such as e-readers, tablets, laptops and smartphones. Topics include how to load e-books, apps and music onto devices and basic computer and internet search skills. We don’t claim to have all the answers, but we offer the time and resources to work with patrons to solve their technology issues. This lightning session will address branding, marketing, promotion of the program and service models seen at other public libraries such as workshops, appointments and working with partners to provide technology instruction outside of the library. We will also share our challenges, successes and the immediate response we've received from our patrons.

10:30am

Two years ago, the DeWitt Wallace Library made the choice to integrate all services into a single public service point. This included circulation, reference, reserves, interlibrary loan, equipment checkout, and ITS tech support. The means by which this was accomplished included a dizzying amount of collaboration between areas of the library as well as beyond its walls. In year two, we've also added Media Services equipment and collections, while further distributing supervision of the desk and processes across librarians and staff from various areas of the library. The success of this desk has depended equally on human resources, including a trust and willingness to work outside of comfort zones and to allow each other into "our" areas of expertise in new and exciting ways, and on technological resources, including google apps for better communication and collaboration, and staff and student worker websites that serve as quick access points for the ever-expanding wealth of information and resources needed to successfully navigate the wide range of processes and services that live at our desk. We will share our story--triumphs and disasters--and encourage discussion with all participants on methods for improving patron (and staff) experiences.

10:30am

Organizing PDFs, using multiple devices, remembering the name of that one really good paper, collaborating on writing with colleagues... how do researchers do it? What’s efficient for them? The University of Minnesota Libraries’ Personal Information Management Collaborative tasked its Productivity Tools and Citation Managers sub-groups to find out. Productivity Tools asked librarians what they’ve been hearing from users. The Citation Managers Group surveyed graduate students on their citation managers. The one weird secret is that there’s no one weird secret. Instead, researchers use tools that cumulatively meet most of their needs. We’ve spent the last several months playing with many of these tools and now you get the benefit of our exploration of tools such as DevonThink, Circus Ponies Notebook, ReadCube, Draft and NoodleTools. … We will cover how they work, what researchers like about them and to what degree they interact with institutionally provided tools like library databases, Google Apps for Education and other major commercial software like Dropbox and Endnote.

10:30am

Buying out-of-the-box applications for data collection can be an expensive prospect for small libraries and they may not have enough flexibility to meet your library’s needs. Even under budget constraints staff members can create tools that can have a big impact on the library. Learn how a small academic library is bringing together staff skills to develop practical, low-cost tools to improve customer service and decision making. We will discuss how we collaborated with the iSchool at University of Maryland to create a library usage statistics application, a course reserves system, and an equipment management system. These customizable systems have had financial benefits, facilitated evidence-based decision making, improved customer service, and streamlined staff workflow. For example, the automated hourly usage statistics application has enabled the library to collect data to assess staffing needs, monitor usage of a late night hours pilot, and save staff time by removing the need for additional data entry. At this session you will learn how the applications were envisioned, planned, developed, and implemented. We will brainstorm solutions for data collection challenges you may have encountered at your library. In addition, you will learn how to establish a team of enthusiastic and talented members, bring them onboard, and most importantly, how staff members can make big contributions to improve library services with limited resources.

11:30am

1:00pm

This presentation tells the story of releasing positive energy among Technical Services workers in the face of challenges and distrust. Technology, exemplified by SharePoint as a workflow tool, is an unlikely solution, but it worked for the BMCC Library. Today’s collection management has changed because of the emphasis on electronic resources. E-book acquisition has created a few more steps compared to buying print books. Staff still cling to their old habits and have difficulty recognizing that the integration of new workflow results in more than a cataloged item on the shelf. We persist in collecting statistics based on hand counts on paper, even as we copy and paste information into Excel files. When the data collected by different units don’t match, or a colleague’s work is devalued because of ambiguity, conflict simmers. We must always ask ourselves “what are we doing right?” Is the simple desire to keep accurate statistics a strong driver for change? How do we extend our shared commitment to the library mission of student success into organizational performance? It was clear that a new plan was needed to organize the workflow among our collection development, acquisitions, and cataloging departments. The Library devised a technological solution for collecting data and calculating statistics, using Microsoft SharePoint as an all-encompassing platform to streamline operations, maintain quality, and facilitate decision-making by organizing, sharing, and managing information. The presentation will describe how various features of SharePoint, such as document library, wiki pages, and workflow were systematically tested. The most important test was to implement SharePoint to provide the library a complex, but complete, electronic collection development workflow. Reliable and faster data resolved departmental tension. The collection development workflow relies on constructive input from acquisitions and cataloging. Fiat lux, fiat latebra, SharePoint lets the light shine on back office operations. Appreciation and collaboration among staff are enhanced.

1:00pm

This session will discuss the experience of the librarians at the University of St. Thomas who have incorporated flipped classroom techniques into their library's instruction program. The librarians will describe their two years of experience using this new format. They will explain what they learned during their first year (the good, the bad, and the really bad), the steps they took to improve the course the second year, and why others may want to implement this learning method into their information literacy instruction. The presenters will discuss best practices in preparing online lectures and other class materials for use in an inverted classroom. They will demonstrate the features of the new versions of Adobe Captivate (version 8) and Adobe Presenter (version 10) and explain the benefit of including video with Techsmith's Camtasia software. Finally, they will evaluate student performance and the benefits and drawbacks of using this particular teaching method.

1:00pm

R&I librarians and instructional technologists at St. Olaf College are aligning services and resources to support digital humanities. As we enter the second year of a four-year Mellon grant supporting DH, we have already begun to develop strategies for sustaining a lively DH program after the grant ends and for leveraging our work on DH to create broader opportunities in support of digital scholarship and digital pedagogy. In this presentation, we will discuss the key factors we have identified thus far for cultivating and sustaining digital projects, including deep collaborations between librarians and instructional technologists, partnerships with mentored undergraduate research and other “high-impact” programs on campus, well-defined workflows for project management, evolving job roles, and reimagined spaces, as well as how digital scholarship has informed our strategic planning processes in the library and information technology.

1:00pm

Interested in supporting data in your library? Institutional repositories can be a great solution for meeting most faculty and student needs around data, but when it comes to getting started, the questions can be daunting. What does data look like? What resources do you need to build a successful program? How can you reach out to faculty members who work with data? Will you have the technical and storage capacity to meet the needs of your community? This presentation will address some of these basic questions and give you tools to start taking the first steps towards building a data program on your campus. Over the last year, bepress has been working on a data initiative with our customers, and we’ll share what we’ve learned. We’ll provide an overview of the types of data generated by researchers, discuss strategies for outreach and developing library data policies, show you how to find the data that’s the best fit for the repository, and present a set of best practices for preparing and showcasing data.

1:00pm

How do we create the library of the future? Throughout my library career I've attempted to make the library of the future a reality. Starting with Holorith cards to Dialog and BRS AfterDark, to COMCats and Online catalogs, to CD-ROM database networks, to Gopher, InfoTrac 2000, and the Web; from paper to media to bits; from preservation to digital curation; from owning and storing to licensing and accessing to creating and collaborating, I learned that we're always creating the library of the future, that it's always just beyond our reach. While everything is new, much remains and some returns.

1:00pm

Last spring we spoke at the Library Technology Conference about the process we used to redesign our library’s website, and in particular, how we focused on our homepage, our most-used page by far. Having launched our site, we were eager to learn how well we were meeting the needs of our users, and set out to gather detailed data about user interactions with our homepage. We developed a custom javascript library to capture user interaction data on our homepage, anonymously recording each link that is clicked and every search query performed in Google Analytics. Analysis of the click events has shown us clearly those features of our page that engage our users, and those that may just be distractions. Meanwhile, the collection of search query terms allows us to examine the most common discovery trends and evaluate the relevancy of search results from our catalog. Our homepage serves many purposes and many constituencies, and every design decision is an exercise in balancing user needs and organizational priorities. Our homepage usage data gives us a realistic measure of our users’ revealed priorities, and forces necessary, if sometimes uncomfortable conversations about how we balance user productivity and efficiency against our institutional desire to promote services, news and events, and less-used parts of our collections. In this session, we’ll describe in detail the techniques we used to gather and analyze these data, as well as other methods to achieve similar results with less custom development. We’ll also discuss the changes we’ve made to our site as a result, and how we’re using this information in conversations about site and service priorities.

1:00pm

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) and the The Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) are working together to address needs identified in the recent Survey of Adult Skills. This session will demonstrate initiatives, sites, tools and strategies to assist in encouraging effective collaborations between libraries and federally funded adult education programs to help more people take advantage of the educational, employment, financial, health, social and civic resources that are available online. This session is sponsored by The Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS). The LINCS initiative features on-demand, web-based professional development opportunities; targeted face-to-face training, high-quality resources; and an interactive online learning community.

Tim Ponder is Assistant Project Director at the Ohio Literacy Resource Center (OLRC). Tim provides support for multiple online learning and professional development platforms and initiatives as well as providing in-person and electronic professional development for adult literacy practitioners. Tim also supports Technology and Distance Learning initiatives.

1:00pm

Many libraries, schools, and other organizations that provide technology and content to community members look to establish rules for use of those technologies that keep users and organizations on the "right side" of copyright law. Similarly, many of us try to keep on the "right side of the law" when making decisions for our organizations, such as whether to digitize certain materials and share them online. However, copyright law, and fair use in particular, is full of uncertainties - or from a different perspective, possibilities. When we ignore those possibilities for our institutions' projects, we constrain our own work and innovations. When we impose rules that prevent our users from exploring these possibilities, we impoverish their interactions with new technologies, content, and with the wider world online. In this session we’ll explore how rethinking the “right side” of a law that doesn’t -have- clear sides, and embracing risks, can unlock new possibilities for ourselves and our users.

Nancy is a ''lawyerbrarian'' (MLS/JD) who is fascinated by the pervasiveness of copyright issues in modern life. She works to help people understand how copyright may affect them personally, and advocates for policies and practices that support sustainable scholarship, democratic information access, and wide public cultural participation.

1:00pm

Games can be a fun way to involve your students and library users in library instruction. They can engage a learner’s internal motivation and encourage them to direct their own learning experience. But putting together a library learning game can be a daunting prospect. Many examples of learning games in the profession are built using specialized coding language and/or IT assistance. This session will present a model for making a learning game using Google tools – no coding or technical expertise required. The presenter will share his experience creating an online, asynchronous database scavenger hunt game as a professional development tool for library staff. Attendees will gain ideas for using the strategies and tools described to create engaging games for their learners.

Matt is a librarian with Minitex, an organization that supports libraries of all types across the state. His primary duties include instruction, outreach, and support related to the Electronic Library for Minnesota databases.

2:15pm

How do we prove the worth of Information Literacy classes? Where is the data? Learn to use a variety of formative assessments with 1:1 technology in the school library media center. We will explain our use of Socrative, Schoology, Google Apps, and more. Then we will detail a nationally-normed summative tool, TRAILS. Add your voice to help create Minnesota’s TRAILS Benchmarks, while providing individualized feedback to your students and administration.PLEASE NOTE: This is a hands-on session. Space may be quite limited--you may be asked to double-up at workstations. Seating is first-come, first-served.

I am a library media specialist. That means that I teach computer skills and applications while also teaching my students to be information literate. At the same time, I am also a more traditional librarian who loves and cares for the books! This year I have just about 750 students that I will see in my classes every five days!

2:15pm

Learning citation styles is often both a painful and passive experience for students involving reading style guides or viewing tutorials. The underlying motivation is not to learn to cite correctly, but to solve the problem of finding the right example to copy, a situation whose stress is often intensified when done at the point of need shortly before an assignment is due. Some online citation style guides or “machines” are interactive to the extent that students fill in the information for their material and a computer program automatically generates the citation. In both instances, the “learn by doing” approach coupled with an absence of authentic instruction results in minimal learning and maximal frustration. Good instructional design is anchored in sound pedagogical principles and is goal driven. Employing a constructivist approach, two faculty librarians at the University of South Dakota identified objectives for developing a citation style lesson. First, the lesson needs to be as interactive as possible. Second, the student must produce the outcome. Third, multiple intelligence learning styles need to be supported throughout the instruction. Fourth, the lesson needs to be flexible in both how it is used and in the kinds of citation style formats that are supported. Fifth, feedback needs to be immediate. The presenters are currently developing Learn2Cite™ to address these objectives. By identifying the basic building blocks of citations and having students manipulate these blocks as they work to form complete and properly organized citations, active learning is achieved. Linguistic intelligence, visual or spatial intelligence, and tactile or bodily-kinesthetic intelligences are all in play as students interact with the lessons. Learn2Cite™ can be configured as a self-paced, stand-alone tutorial and can be used for in-classroom demonstrations. This session will include demonstrations of the on-line tutorial and in-classroom uses.

2:15pm

Many libraries have been using social media for years while others are just now entering the world of fans, followers, likes, and pins. But is social media worth the time and effort? How do you assess the return on investment? At one academic library, social media has recently become a point of emphasis with Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest teams formed to communicate about the library and to engage library users in conversation. This presentation will focus on how that library developed a social media assessment plan to determine the benefits of this work outweigh the cost in time. An assessment plan provides a pathway to follow to decide if the work that is being done is effective and to identify action steps if the work is not effective. The payoff for a social media assessment plan is better usage of personnel resources. The presentation will conclude with tips for libraries to start assessing their social media usage.

2:15pm

Currently, Minnesota State University, Mankato (MSU) Memorial Library's social media presence is shared by a committee. Members of the committee follow a six-day schedule where each day is assigned to a particular member. That member is responsible for the posts and Tweets of the day that correspond to the day's theme. This lightning talk is designed to highlight a project that was created for use with the library's social media presence to boost student involvement with MSU Memorial Library’s Facebook and Twitter pages. We will also discuss our library’s experience using Facebook ads. Every Fashionable Friday, the library’s social media sites (Facebook and Twitter) featured a photograph of a student with impeccable taste in fashion, along with their name, year, and major. We wanted to see if showcasing a student would boost our Likes and Retweets and ultimately improve our social media presence. In our talk we will present our library's social media process, our Fashionable Friday project, our Facebook ADventure, and evaluate our success rate.

2:15pm

Come and get a lightning overview of streaming video options for libraries. What options currently exist? Who sells streaming video? What are the norms? How does a streaming license differ from a DVD purchase? Does copyright fair use ever apply? Leave understanding the basics of selecting and licensing streaming video.

2:15pm

The McMaster University Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship provides pedagogical, research, and infrastructure support for people interested in the digital humanities. To support them and amuse us, we built out an unusual small makerspace where we do hardware reclamation, soldering, project buildouts, 3d printing, and other things. This session will explore why you might want to do something similar, how you'd go about doing it, and potential problems you might find along the way.

Jen Legatt is a media specialist and tech integrationist who is energized by engaging learners in meaningful, authentic ways. Envisioning how to expand learning experiences out of the walls and bells of traditional classrooms. Mom of two readers.

2:15pm

During the summer of 2013, Cook Library equipped a new library instruction classroom with 30 Apple iPads for student use during information literacy instruction sessions. The library aimed to capitalize on the potential mobile technology represents in the future of education through engaging students in active learning and promoting creative instruction. However, as the devices arrived, a staff survey revealed that the majority of instruction librarians felt uneasy about planning information literacy instruction for an iPad-equipped classroom. At Cook Library, we responded to this challenge through building a low-stakes, high support-peer learning network. This support has included the creation of an iPad teaching circle and discussion group, organizing an “iPads for Librarians” professional development program, and biannual iPad teaching demonstrations. This lightning talk will use Cook Library’s case study to illustrate easy steps libraries can take to create a community of practice around new technology initiatives to maximize impact and empower staff.

2:15pm

Experimenting with new uses of technologies can be a great way to engage library users. We will teach workshop participants how to use an Xbox Kinect, the motion sensing device that allows for gesture control, and Skanect software to create 3D scans of participants. Users can manipulate their scan files in any way they choose, including creating a 3D print of it. In demonstrating how to use this technology, we will show how the activity can be done using a basic swivel chair to make “busts” of participants or, for the especially adventurous, building your own motorized rotating platform for full body scans. Finally, we will share our workflow that we applied to multiple events, including a city-wide art festival and multiple Libraries’ events. This activity allows participants to explore gaming technology in interactive and new ways and hopefully inspire participants to try this at their own institutions!

Justin Schell is a filmmaker, writer, photographer, and Learning Design Specialist for the University of Michigan Library. His first documentary, Travel in Spirals, tells the story of Hmong hip-hop artist Tou SaiKo Lee's journey back to Thailand, 30 years after he was born in a refugee camp there. He recently completed his full-length documentary film We Rock Long Distance. His video work has been shown in the Walker Art Center, Twin Cities... Read More →

2:15pm

PLEASE NOTE: This is a hands-on session. Space may be quite limited--you may be asked to double-up at workstations. Seating is first-come, first-served.

Curious about 3D printing and its role in higher education? Learn how 3D printing has been incorporated into the curriculum at the University Of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Macalester College. The session will include a live 3D printing demo and participants will gain hands-on experience working with 3D files using Makerbot Desktop.

2:15pm

PLEASE NOTE: This is a hands-on session. Space may be quite limited--you may be asked to double-up at workstations. Seating is first-come, first-served.

After briefly providing some background information on the acquisition of a digital processing workstation and the development of digital records processing workflows, this hands-on work session will provide an overview of at least one possible workflow for accessioning and processing born digital archival records. Attendees will walk through the process themselves and learn how to use specific (free) tools to better understand and process the materials at hand. Some possible tasks could include documenting basic file structure for ingesting and processing digital files, generating basic metadata about files (e.g. identify the number, size, and types/formats of files), identifying duplicate files and/or empty directories, and creating checksums (as a baseline for preservation). Come and take the next step with us!

Lara Friedman-Shedlov is Description and Access Archivist for the Kautz Family YMCA Archives, a unit of the Department of Archives and Special Collections at the University of Minnesota Libraries. For the past 15+ years, her work has focused primarily on the challenges of making archival material discoverable. Other interests include the uses of social media in libraries/archives, born digital/electronic records, Encoded Archival... Read More →

2:15pm

PLEASE NOTE: This is a hands-on session. Space may be quite limited--you may be asked to double-up at workstations. Seating is first-come, first-served.

You no longer need to be a graphic designer to create professional-looking publications. It's easy with a few simple software tools and an introduction to graphic design. In this session, participants will learn to use Microsoft Publisher, Paint, and Snipping Tool to create a flyer to take back to their library. Along the way, they will be introduced to graphic design elements, including fonts, color, and composition, to bring their marketing materials to the next level.

2:15pm

PLEASE NOTE: This is a hands-on session. Space may be quite limited--you may be asked to double-up at workstations. Seating is first-come, first-served.

After their release in 2012 Raspberry Pis received a certain amount of buzz on the library circuit. At thirty five dollars, the Pi was an affordable piece of technology and was received well by libraries looking to participate in a new trend but also wanting to make minimal impact on tight budgets. The Pi is no longer the exciting new toy it once was, but still provides the same functionality at the same low cost. In particular, combined with basic Python scripting and a monitor, Pis are excellent replacements for expensive signage equipment and a great entry tool for librarians who want to learn to code. Participants in this session will work hands on with Raspberry Pis, learning the basics of Python, including how to write variables, loops and functions. Coming out of this session participants will be comfortable working with the Raspberry Pi's hardware, and will have created their own scripts in Python. The presenters will also go over several sample use cases for Raspberry Pis within a library context, including using the Pi as a lightweight, low-cost replacement for digital signage.

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I'm Max - I'm a recent transplant from Vancouver, Canada to Chicago, as well as a recent graduate from the iSchool program at the University of Toronto. Feel free to come up and say hi to chat about anything.

2:15pm

PLEASE NOTE: This is a hands-on session. Space may be quite limited--you may be asked to double-up at workstations. Seating is first-come, first-served.

In this workshop, you'll learn how to work with two open source timeline resources, the SIMILE project and Timeline JS. In a computer lab environment, you will create your own timeline, and you will gain knowledge that you can take back to your work and put to use instantly.

With these easy-to-use freely available timeline tools, it is possible to create small-scale digital humanities projects and exhibits and present them on a website or a blog. Both tools can be used to engage the community with your collections or other online collections. A minimum of technical expertise is needed and these two tools are great for collaborating with colleagues, students, faculty, or others.

My work in the Bethel University Digital Library involves collecting and curating Bethel's history, culture, and scholarship. I enjoy working in a variety of settings including archives & special collections, institutional repositories, digital libraries, web development, digital humanities, and reference. Timeline tools like SIMILE Widgets and TimelineJS are in the nexus of all these different domains and I looking forward to sharing how... Read More →

2:15pm

Anyone who works with social media or marketing events and programs for their library knows that it can be hard to keep the creative juices flowing. During the course of this workshop we will:

Engage in creativity boosting exercises and activities

Brainstorm ideas, activities, and resources

Discuss the importance of planning cross-channel promotions

Learn how to spot opportunities to promote the work of other organizations and promotions from other organizations that can be shared

Learn from each other’s experiences of the difficulties and triumphs of working with social media

Whether you are running the one-perdon social media show or working with a team, this workshop will give you the tools you need to design unique and eye-catching promotions without breaking the bank or spending hours on one post.

2:15pm

What do the study spaces in your library look like? Have they adapted to meet the changing work habits of students? Learn how two high school media centers and a university library adapted their student study and learning spaces.

Media Specialists Lisa Gearman and Sara Swenson share their journeys to reinvent learning spaces in two different high schools. Academic librarians Brooke Cox and Caroline Gilson will discuss how DePauw University Libraries addressed planning, adapting and assessing library study spaces to meet student needs. We will provide practical advice on design possibilities that can be scaled and tweaked for any library space or budget. There will be time for Q & A with the presenters and hands-on brainstorming and planning.

Brooke Cox is the Systems Librarian at DePauw University in Greencastle, IN where she oversees the ILS, web site and digital library program, which includes the institutional repository and a variety of image collections from the University Archives and Art Galleries. Having transitioned from managing the visual resource center in the art department to overseeing library systems more broadly her passion remains images and making them both... Read More →

Sara Swenson's first library love was the children's room of the Carnegie built Stillwater Public Library. As the librarian/media specialist at Edina High School she endeavors to share her passion for reading with students (read anytime, anywhere and anything!) and also teach them to be smart researchers. Sara is a national board certified teacher. Each fall she presents at "Booked for the Evening," a review of the best books for the year... Read More →

2:15pm

PLEASE NOTE: This is a hands-on session. Space may be quite limited--you may be asked to double-up at workstations. Seating is first-come, first-served.

You recognize them the minute they stop by the desk, they are the “Patrons with Ancestors.” Responding to genealogy requests can be time consuming and sometimes frustrating for both librarians and patrons. There are many online resources that Librarians can suggest that are free and user friendly. While Ancestry.com is considered the “go to” online genealogy resource, directing patrons to subscription-free websites allows patrons to conduct research outside of the library. Not all libraries hold subscriptions to online genealogy resources. There are so many sites to choose from, having a database of tried-and-true resources provides for better library service to genealogy researchers, as well as librarians and support staff. It takes time to find such databases, time that most librarians do not have. The resources that are presented have been researched and tested and are among the best non-subscription genealogy sites on the Internet. This workshop will address easy ways to connect patrons to online resources, present tips to help library staff efficiently respond to genealogy related requests, and discuss how patron genealogy researchers can add free reference materials and much more to a library’s collection.

I will be presenting "So Many Ancestors, So Little Time," at this year's Lib Tech Conference. The focus of the presentation is researching genealogy records for free - without using subscription sites, but accessing a fair amount of information that can be found on fee-based sites.